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Here's Why Sub Chroma Isn't Your Average Art or Music Festival

Live music and street art get techy at Sub Chroma, an immersive, over-the-top celebration of 21st century creativity.

The crowd observes the state-of-the-art projection mapping technique.

This is not your average party. The brainchild of Chicago production group Canvas, Sub Chroma merges creative expression with screen time in an interactive, two-night event that joins artists and musicians with video projection mapping and virtual reality. “There’s a big theme here of a connection between technology and art,” says Preston Jones, Canvas director of operations.

Set in the 12,000-square-foot Moonlight Studios space, the event draws Chicago influencers, creatives, and trend-setters, who will encounter the Analog Gallery, where art pieces will be for sale in a traditional setting; the Digital Gallery, where guests can sport HTC Vive headsets and experience artist-created virtual reality; the Experience Gallery, where partygoers are invited to generate their own works while wearing a headset to paint on thin air using Google Tilt Brush; and the Performance/Immersive Room, a 6,200-square-foot space where musicians will perform surrounded by individually projection-mapped structures.

Rounding out the event, wildly popular street artist Lefty will digitally paint a work made visible to the audience via projection technology by new media artist, DrmBt. “It becomes this intense experience where people can literally watch someone paint all over the room,” notes Jones. November 18–19 at Moonlight Studios, 1446 W. Kinzie St., 312-618-5154

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